Oct 11 - Chess in the Park
DATE CHANGE!
We have ALL BEEN missing OTB play. Here is an opportunity! From 8:00 to 2:00 on Oct 11 we host a National Chess Day Tournament (okay so it's a day late). During the FREE event, we plan to hold 4 rounds of G30 +5 time control chess. IF we get enough participation, we will hold both a USCF Rated and non-rated section. Prizes? We're working on that still.
Where? The Shucks Road Regional Park Pavilion. This is an outdoor event in public park. We may have a bit more noise / interruption than usual.
Sets? We should have plenty of sets, clocks etc.
SAFETY: To ensure everyone's safe, We have these protocols
- Everyone must wear a mask!
- Maintain Social Distancing - The facility is large enough to accommodate about 40 players BUT this means we need to limit participation. SO. Arrive early to ensure your spot. Spectators must remain 6 feet away from players.
- We will clean/sanitize equipment before the event and you will have the opportunity to clean the equipment between rounds
- While food is not allowed at the board under normal circumstances, drinks (including water) will not be permitted at the board. Personal food and drinks are permitted away from the board AND away from other people. No sharing of any food or drinks.
See you in ????
We simply cannot follow essential safety protocols and play over the board chess. As a result we will delay the start of our club further. As of now, we do not know when we will be able to return to regular club meetings. When we know, I will update this page and send out an email to our email list and post on our Facebook page..
Follow this link if you want to be added to our email list..
In the meantime, keep playing, studying and try to stay sharp. We will continue to post on Facebook from time to time.
Project 1500
Who wants to get their USCF rating above 1500? Project 1500 aims to get our regular USCF ratings to above 1500. This is a voluntary project and is in addition to our regular club activities. We will…
- play through selected Grandmaster level games,
- work on endgames,
- work on tactics, and
- play in USCF rated events
We will use a separate mailing list for this and therefore you need to let me know if you want to be included.
Play through selected Grandmaster level games:
We will provide Grandmaster level games for review. We start by reviewing 10 of these games every day. For those who are NOT familiar with chess notation, more on this later. This way chess notation becomes second nature. Our first set is the 2017 and 2018 Sinquefield Cup games.
We will provide these games in two formats.
- Online via a browser. Here is the first link. http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2020/3/8/Game808424515.html
- Via a ChessBase file. To read this file you will need a ChessBase product. There is no need to purchase a ChessBase product. Simply download the FREE ChessBase reader. You can find the reader here. https://en.chessbase.com/pages/download NOTE: ChessBase makes very good chess product however
- they only run on Windows, and
- they are expensive.
This is why we have the web browser version.
Work on endgames
For the first week we will let some folks catch up. You need to know these two basic concepts.
- How to deliver checkmate with a King and Rook vs. a King https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtGVYnv91ps
- How a lone King stops a pawn and King from promoting the pawn. You can find a video on that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z52BN5uv1L8
Work on tactics
I suggest using ChessTempo.com for tactics training, at least to start. Sign up and get an account so you the website can adjust the problems to your level. I suggest 10 tactics problems a day.
Play in USCF rated events
First we need to get to slower chess. Speed chess is fun, but it does not help your game. G60 is the fasted we should play. For scholastic players, this may be tough as many of the scholastic events are G25. Even the MD Scholastic Championship for U1000 players is G45 d5. While these are OK to start, once your regular rating gets over 1200, we need to play in slower events. Besides, the better play is in the non-scholastic events.
To play in USCF rated events you need to have an active USCF membership and be able to write chess notation. In a future email, I will send details on chess notation. SO if you need instruction on chess notation, let me know.
At the club we will still have plenty of G5 and G15 games. The schedule at the club makes slower events less popular.
What We Do
The Emmorton Rec.Chess provides an environment where players can improve their game and make some friends. The Emmorton Rec. Chess Club is open to players of all ages. We meet most Thursday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Emmorton Rec and Tennis Center. Please stop by and check us out.
Rated Quick Chess -
About once a month we hold USCF Rated quick chess tournaments. These are free to our members and typically cost $2 for non members. If you do not have a USCF membership we often have a non-rated section. As the cost is low / free, we promise no prizes but often have a small token prize. Click Here for recent results.
Tournament Trips -
We organize occasional trips to larger tournaments.
Thematic Nights -
In the past we have had thematic nights for various openings, gong chess, and bughouse.
Puzzles and Position Analysis -
We occasionally review interesting positions, difficult puzzles, and significant games.
If you have any questions or want to be added to our email list, contact us at [email protected].
BONUS - 60 Checkmate in 1 problems for free